At this stage, virtually every major X-Men character has been recast, reimagined or reworked for the benefit of the franchise. We have younger versions of Professor X, Magneto and Mystique. We’re looking for new, younger versions of Cyclops, Jean Grey and Storm for X-Men: Apocalypse. Only Wolverine has remained visually consistent, and Hugh Jackman’s reporting that he’ll likely stay the course if all goes as planned.
The actor who has played Wolverine for more than a decade now spoke to MTV about his possible role in Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Apocalypse. Seeing as how Wolverine was integral to last summer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, and has a third Wolverine solo movie on the docket, you’d assume that Logan’s claws would pop in all of Singer’s X-plans. Right? Well, Jackman revealed what he could to the site, saying:
"I have been speaking to the guys, and I’m not at liberty to tell exactly what’s going on, which is largely framing my answer here. But there’s still a lot unknown about that, actually. There are some very exciting things about integrating the whole X-Men world, including the Wolverine movie. There’s some really cool things going on."
Hugh Jackman might be referring to the notion that the timeline correction pulled off in X-Men: Days of Future Past negated (or seriously messed with) a few things that we witnessed in the standalone Wolverine films. And a few of those continuity errors are being addressed… namely, starting with the fact that we’re getting a new Deadpool movie and the Merc with a mouth no longer has to be remembered as this dude.
But the bigger question entails whether we need a new Wolverine to factor into X-Men: Apocalypse, and whether the role should be recast. Bryan Singer has revealed that his plot will take place in the 1980s (much like Days took place in the ‘70s), and if they are going after younger versions of Storm and Cyclops, then shouldn’t Logan be younger, as well? That would allow Fox to game plan the future of Wolverine, as a character, because Hugh Jackman is a TERRIFIC looking 46, but can’t keep wearing the claws forever.
This sounds like Fox giving Jackman the opportunity to leave his signature role under his own terms. He has given the studio, the character and the franchise so much. Virtually, everything. How much longer will be play Logan? He’s earned the right to tell Fox when he’s done… but things don’t always end as smoothly as all parties would like. Jackman commented very briefly on the third Wolverine movie, saying he and writing partner David James Kelly are "working on it really hard." We shall see how this resolves, but it sounds like conversations are ongoing.
